Xenia's property management quick tip - What a Property Manager looks for in outgoing inspections

An outgoing inspection, the inspection done once a tenant has vacated the property is in many ways more important than an ingoing inspection because you only get once chance to inspect the property for the consideration of the bond refund so it needs to be done right.

A quick walk through will easily miss hidden problems so a thorough inspection needs to be done to ensure all damage is revealed before the bond refund is agreed on.

Most tenants do not cause damage but most are notorious for not cleaning a property correctly.
The pictures below are of a property I inspected this week at Mawson Lakes. The tenants hired professional cleaners and carpet cleaners and have produced a receipt for our office. However, that DOES NOT mean that the property has been cleaned correctly.

Upon inspection it was found that the oven was cleaned but the oven knobs were still sticky, the range hood was dirty (wiped over but still sticky), the sink was wiped over but not cleaned with stainless steel cleaning products - needs to shine, some of the draws were not cleaned correctly. These are all common areas in rentals.




Leaving water stains at the bottom of showers is also another common area that tenants miss as well as window sills and skirting boards. Carpets are usually professionally cleaned - we look for the machine lines on the carpets during inspections and floors and bathrooms are generally OK.


The property in the picture was 90% OK, but an additional professional clean by our own in house cleaners was recommended to them to rectify the missed areas.

As well as calculating rent to the day the keys are returned, a final water reading also needs to be taken during an outgoing inspection to calculate the final water account payable by the tenant at the end of the lease. Bonds cannot be released without this.

 

Tenants of above property, even though you can see carpets were professionally cleaned and house generally cleaned, agreed to additional professional cleaning for above areas

 

So what happens if tenants refuse to have those small issues rectified in an otherwise 90% clean property?
What happens if it ends up at tribunal hearing?
Mixed results, I'm testing a completely new precedence next week, will keep you posted.

 

In NSW the property just has to be reasonably clean. So if the tenant doesn't agree to any additional cleaning and it is a small issue then it wouldn't be worth going to the tribunal over it.

It would be quicker to clean it myself than go to the tribunal.

 

Do you check under the toilet seat to make sure there are no surprises there.

 

Great tips!

How quickly does this have to be done. Assuming the tennant leaves today and you have another tennant lined up for tommorow, is it going to be a problem getting the outgoing report done as well as professional cleaning?

Do you as a owner have the right to inspect it yourself after you get the report?

If I have repairs to be done that I want to organise myself (to be done by actual professionals not myself), should this be done after the inspection report?

 

Before I answer your question, is professional cleaning done as part of the negotiation with tenant? If so, a final report is done after it's cleaned.

 

hmmm... They haven't vacated yet so I'm not sure what state the property is going to be in so no negotiation has been done. I didn't think this was the process.. I don't need to ask the tennant whether they are going to clean the property themselves do I? once they leave, the state of the property is clear. Having said that, it was professionally cleaned before they moved in so I am expecting the same state.

I'm actually not referring to whether cleaning is to be done before or after the inspection report, I'm referring to things like plumbing fixes and other small item handyman jobs due to wear and tear.

 

I'm always baffled by this. PMs have high standard when it comes to cleanliness (and I've known a few people to complain about this) yet I've never rented a property that was that clean when I've moved in

 

If it meets the standard of 'reasonably clean' (wording the legislation uses, but is very open to interpretation) then it often needs a clean, but can't pin it on previous tenant as @Nick Valsamis said above and most owners won't want to pay for it.

Other possibility is that its sat vacant for a bit while finding a tenant, and gotten dusty in the mean time. Especially with trades or potential tenants going through the property often.

 

I think it should be mandatory that the PM appoint the cleaner (similar to fumigation clause with pets)

Then the owner gets to a opportunity to inspect it and if its not satisfactory, its on the PM who hired the shoddy cleaner, not the tenant.

I've seen many times where the PM has got their cleaner in and they've done a crap job but the PM says its clean - yet when a tenant gets a cleaner in who does the same or better job, its not good enough.

 

Here's a tenant tip
Take pictures of everything on the in-going inspection.
Print off 2 copies of the pictures.
Make the PM sign each page acknowledge receipt.

There are crap tenants, crap owners as well as crap PM's (worse ones are the ones using it as a stepping stone to sales and simply there to "get their foot in the door").

If you find a good PM, stick to them like a fly sticks to poop.

 

Yup, a lot of people don't get this.

 

It's almost mandatory in my office - except when tribunal refuses it. Most of the time we get properties professionally cleaned between tenants. It takes the ambiguity out.

 

You take possession to arrange maintenance after the final inspection report is done.

Otherwise it could be argued that something that is broken or left unclean has been caused by the tradespeople.

 

thank you